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The Royal Secret Service is an independent faction of the Royal Army that undertakes personal missions from the current King, and safeguards the land against threats that affect the entire planet. The Service, much alike the rest of the Army itself, was disbanded during Dr. Ivo Robotnik's military coup and its remaining members joined the Rebel Underground to fight alongside the Freedom Fighters. However, the Service was reinstated after the return of King Maximillian Acorn from the Zone of Silence. The Service's members were, in the beginning, generally arrogant and narrow-minded, believing themselves the ultimate protectors of Mobius and no other military group has their kind of experience or expertise. However, this is generally not the case, as the Knothole Freedom Fighters, particularly Sonic the Hedgehog, prove themselves better than the Service time and again. Eventually the membership of Geoffrey St. John's Secret Service was depleted as members either went missing, died, or voluntarily left the group, leaving the Service effectively disbanded.
History[]
Great War and Disbanding[]
During the Great War between the Kingdom of Acorn and the Overlanders, the Royal Secret Service was commanded by Ian St. John, with Colonel Sommersby serving as his top aid. Their final mission was a flight intended to carry Queen Alicia and Prince Elias Acorn to safety, only for them to be shot down by Overlanders and crash land on Angel Island; subsequently, only Sommersby, Alicia, and Elias would survive. (KtE: #19, #20)
Reformation[]
After Robotnik's death at the hands of Sonic the Hedgehog the Rebel Underground were asked to be the new Secret Service by the orders of King Max. Sometime later two of their members, Smiley and Fleming, were reassigned to guard duty on Devil's Gulag, the kingdom's high-security prison. Sometime later the two rejoined Geoffrey but was captured along with the Chaotix and Freedom Fighters by Mammoth Mogul, but the tyrant was defeated by Super Sonic, Hyper Knuckles and Turbo Tails. They later helped rebuild Mobotropolis after it was retaken from Robotnik. Sometime later Smiley retired and was sent to Devil's Gulag, while Fleming accompanied Geoffrey on a sweep-and-clear mission to destroy leftover booby traps. Fleming inadvertently tripped on a landmine and nearly got himself and Geoffrey killed. The Beaver promptly retired from the Secret Service, leaving Geoffrey in command. (StH: #56, #61, #69 KtE: 9, SSS: 2).
The Secret Service going to rescue Nate Morgan.
Following the end of the First Robotnik War, Ian's son Geoffrey was called upon by Maximillian Acorn to reform the Secret Service. Ironically, the group was to complete the mission their predecessors failed to: bringing Queen Alicia and Prince Elias to safety. Geoffrey quickly selected his team: On the Floating Island he recruited Valdez the Chameleon, a former member of the Service. He next went to Downunda to find Wombat Stu, who joined due to having nothing to do following the defeat of Crocbot. St John returned to Mobotropolis to recruit Hershey Cat and reformed Robotnik minions Heavy and Bomb. After several training missions in Mobotropolis, they made their way to Angel Island, where despite strange weather conditions and treachery amongst the Brotherhood of Guardians, they were able to complete their objectives, bringing home the Queen and Prince Elias, King Max's eldest son. They returned to Mobotropolis, where they were greeted gratefully by the king. Subsequently, with the disbanding of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, the Secret Service became the Kingdom's primary special force, where they soon took on a mission against several escaped convicts from Devil's Gulag to save the Overlander Nate Morgan. Despite the admirable performance of the Service-and the unexpected aid of Sonic the Hedgehog and Elias-several of the criminals escaped due to the interference of a giant Mutate awakened by Robo-Robotnik's satellites. (StH: #61, #62, #63, #64, #68, #69, #70; KtE: #19, #20, #21)
The Royal Secret Service discover the remains of Metal Sonic v2.5 at Mount Mobius.
The rise of Dr. Eggman forced the Secret Service into full-time combat duty, their first mission being the evacuation of Mobotropolis, while King Max quickly reinstated the Knothole Freedom Fighters. In the chaos, Valdez was taken prisoner, and was later found to have been Roboticized after Hershey and Geoffrey infiltrated Eggman's headquarters to discover his fate. Shortly after, the Royal Secret Service was sent to investigate the now-dormant site where Sonic and Tails' encountered Metal Sonic v2.5. They found Metal Sonic's slagged remains, and Heavy determined Metal Sonic's core programming to be part of the still functional Power Gem. After the Freedom Fighters were reformed, the two groups worked together on a number of occasions. This came to an end after the Secret Service was captured while trying to retrieve the Sword of Acorns from Robotropolis. While there, Heavy and Bomb were reprogrammed to serve Eggman, whilst the rest of the Secret Service were infected with Nanites that left them helpless as the robotic duo attempted to assassinate the Royal Family, only to be destroyed by Sonic. Subsequently, the team was taken off active duty, and its membership was reduced further to just two as Wombat Stu returned to Downunda to rejoin his original team, the Downunda Freedom Fighters. (StH: #75, #78, #93, #97, #99, #125, SU: #43, SSS: #11)
New Methods[]
The Secret Service was temporarily in danger of losing its leader when Geoffrey considered resigning in the face of his past mistakes. Hershey, however, persuaded him to stay on, and the two went back on duty to locate a missing Elias Acorn. They managed to locate him in the Feral Forest, but were then attacked by Dr. Eggman's forces and had to be saved by the Freedom Fighters. The two would then join in the battle against the Xorda to destroy their Quantum Dial weapon. Following Sonic's apparent death, they continued espionage efforts against Eggman, only to be captured by him shortly before Operation: Triple Threat. Luckily, Sonic returned in time to save the two, and to carry the information they had gathered back to Knothole. Arriving in time for Mina Mongoose's victory concert, the two stayed briefly before leaving for an unofficial mission: their honeymoon. Following Knothole's destruction, the Secret Service would be relocated to New Mobotropolis, working out of an office at the top of army headquarters. Geoffrey would then be sent on a cooperative mission with GUN agent Rouge the Bat to investigate Mammoth Mogul's Casino Night Zone. (StH: #118, #121, #125, #130, #134, #176, #187, #188)
With only Geoffrey and Hershey remaining in the organization, the pair were forced to split up in order to accomplish missions. Geoffrey was sent to the United Federation on one assignment, while Hershey took up temporary residence among the Felidae of Pais Misterioso. When Hershey failed to report in, Geoffrey went looking for her, but no trace of her presence remained but her uniform. Grief-stricken, Geoffrey returned to his almost forgotten agenda-that of service to the evil wizard Ixis Naugus. While on trial for high treason, Geoffrey revealed that he had sought out the original Secret Service members as part of his plan. He had also created the later group in Naugus' name, purposefully choosing individuals who could readily be blamed if anything happened to the kingdom. However, he readily expressed doubts in his abilities to have brought any evidence against Valdez, and that he hadn't anticipated falling in love with Hershey.(StH: #233)